Running head: THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

Theory of Advertisement: The Produced Change That Occurs from

Economic Stability and Social Change
Tavarius L. Horne
Florida State University

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

Theory of Advertisement: The Produced Change That Occurs from

Economic Stability and Social Change
Advertisement by definition, means something that is shown or
presented to the public to help sell a product or to make an
announcement; public, being the key word, is the defining factor of
advertisements, an ideal that I will prove both literally and figuratively in
terms of real world examples. The defining question of my research is: How
have advertisements adapted to the time periods or events that change
either the mindset or economic stability of the intended audience?
Answering this question with famous examples of advertisements and
providing subsequent analysis of situations and conditions that change
them over time such as culture, and methods that they use to influence
that message such as cues.
To be candid, I am completely aware that this research is
dominated by my assertion that advertisements do indeed change under
certain circumstances, but the question is not whether advertisements, or
the marketers that create them, are using social or economic qualities of
the time to enhance them, but how such is relevant and can be revealed
by looking at various examples and expert opinions. Being that television
was not invented until the late 1920s, the change appropriate to this
particular topic requires a sort of comparison between pictures
throughout roughly that last century. Placed in historical and social

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

context, the changes highlighted will serve to display how such changes
occur and its relationship to the practice of advertisement as whole.
To begin on a popular note, Coca Cola serves as a prime
example to display the ways that advertisements changed, particularly
during an infamous period such as the Great Depression. Despite what
personal opinions you may have developed about their various products,
the timeliness and intellect displayed by their advertisements have
certainly done everything in their power to convince their intended
audience, being mostly
those of Caucasian origin
since during this particular
period, such was the
dominant group, to buy
them. During the 1930s, the
United States and many
other countries were enduring the Great Depression, a period when the
stock market crashed and devastatingly affected monetary wealth for
both the rich and poor. Now, although it may peak your interest for me to
provide a historical analysis of this event, knowing the general idea of it
serves a particular and important part of being able to critically
understand and highlight the key elements of advertisements in relation to
that time period. In a Coca-Cola campaign ad during the 1930s

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

(pictured to the right on the left), there is a special focus to the All
American Pause, a phrase that recognizes the need for relief on both a
national and social level. The distinct word that points directly to the
struggle of the time, the Great Depression, is pause, because that is not
just a pause from walking the dog or mowing the lawn, but a moment to
where you did not have to focus on how financially difficult it is and has
been for you to survive. In this advertisement in particular, it is very direct in
its message and compared with the ad from the 1940s (same picture on
the right) we can see that the idea of an All American pause, is no
longer relevant and is therefore removed from the advertisement. This ad
acts as a dual example because it represents the change of an
advertisement in adjustment to both the vulnerable economy and the
relatively new fragile penny-pinching nature of the people. In terms of
rhetorically analyzing this change, the perspective of the audience has
clearly changed, all of a sudden no one cares about soda if they cannot
afford to survive, so because of that change in the mindset, it becomes a
new audience that Coca-Cola has to market to and they make that
change so their product is relevant to that new audience.
Furthermore, a crucial aspect of this question is interpreting
particular cues that show in a definite sense that the ad is pointing to such
time period. Zhao, Muehling, and Kareklas (2014) suggest that ads can
create a feeling of nostalgia, which is a yearning for a pleasant past. This

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

is very relevant in terms of the Coca Cola advertisement because the

pause, along with being a moment to forget about the struggle of the
Great Depression, is also supposed to bring the nostalgia, as, at least in
terms of the ad, drinking Coke allows you to reflect on a pleasant past
that creates happiness. Accordingly, whether it creates this effect on you
as individual is not important for this research, but the proposed effect it
attempts inflict on the consumers; and realizing the particular cues that an
advertisements gives is very important to discern the overall message or
technique that a marketer tries to convey. It is critical that we take this
from both the analytical and personal perspective. Regardless of whether
the techniques advertisers use are negative or positive in relation to the
people, we all fall victim of these cues that prove to be very effective.
Although the goal of this research is not to argue whether these ideas
necessarily work on their intended audiences, considering why certain
methods work can help to create a better understanding of the way
advertisements change because of economic or social attributes.
Change is a relative term and does not impact every person in the same
manner so how is it that advertisers are able to pinpoint aspects of such
change and make them persuasive to a wide group? The answer to that
question comes from things that are taught to each of those individuals in
a wide group like religion, tradition, ideals, and most prominently culture.

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

Accordingly, along with analyzing certain cues that point to a

certain message, the culture that defines the message is also an
important part of advertising. Providing ads in different countries tends to
vary not only the language, as I am sure for reasons that are not
incomprehensible to us, especially as scholars, but also by elements like
product, writing styles, and emotional cues and appeals. To examine this
cultural distinction that connects to the mindset attribute of the initial
question, McDonalds campaigns in different countries serve as perfect
examples. For this particular case we can focus on their advertisements in
three countries of contrasting cultural backgrounds: the United States
(mcdonaldscorp, 2012), India (catchthebuzzzzzz, 2011), and Japan
(mythirdtry, 2011). The first and perhaps most overlooked difference in
these ads are the ethnicities of the actors. Those in the ad for Japan are
Japanese, those in the USA as are American, and those in the India ad
are Indian. This all revolves around the idea of relatedness, which is
perhaps the most fundamental and crucial techniques of advertisers in
considering the audience. Even through the Coca Cola example, the
ability of an advertisement to make its intended viewer feel as though is a
good product, is giving said product a useful function in the lives of the
viewers. Why is it that an American, after watching the Japanese
commercial, feels less obligated to buy from McDonalds? Besides the
obvious fact that he or she probably was unable to interpret a single word

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

in the ad, its because it does not appeal to their life style. In terms of the
actual culture, there is a noticeable difference in terms of individualistic
vs. collectivist societies. The USA, being an individualistic culture focused
on to make your day better, which is very much about pleasing the
individual, which appeals to Americans because such is a common ideal
among the culture. Taking a sort of opposite stance, the Indian
commercial focused on relationships at a young age, a very big part of
the culture because of the belief in arranged marriages that people of
the culture tend to have, which is definitely a more collectivist idea. It is
these differences in culture contribute greatly to relatedness, the idea that
is the starting point for advertisements and the ultimate goal of marketers
in appealing to a group of consumers so that they can feel an emotional
sort of connectivity to their product when they think about it, going back
to the aforementioned feeling of nostalgia that advertisements try to give
their viewers.
Moreover, according to Coolsen and Quesenberry (2014) the
drama in television commercials attempt to illustrate the roles that those
particular stories play in the lives of consumers. This directly correlates with
the differences that McDonalds advertisements have for different cultures.
In each the story is different because they represent the stories that the
consumers of that particular region have. For example, in India, finding
someone to be in a relationship with at a young age is a situation or story

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

that many have to go through and the commercial acts to exemplify the
drama, and go back to reoccurring concept of relatedness. This is even
depicted in the writing in the various commercials, as in the USA
commercial, the symbol and logo are constantly reoccurring, in the
Japanese commercial, there is no remnant of McDonalds until the end,
even the setting was an ordinary home, not a McDonalds location. This
shows that in the Japanese culture, the emphasis is placed on the
children, around adults in a home environment without the logos and
signs to really display their collectivist ideals. Marketers incorporate culture
to define or create a situation that the consumers particular to that region
can identify with and have that sense of being related, which goes with
the overall theme of the change in mindset even during the same time
period.
Looking from an interpretive view, advertisements are considerably
profound in terms of the logic incorporated into them and those who
create them study their targets proficiently in order to create the best
advertisement that may do the job of connecting and relating to the
people. Brown and Duguid (2000) state resources for learning lie not
simply in information, but in the practice that allows people to make sense
of and use that information, which is crucial to the overall meaning
behind an advertisement. Marketers base their ideas, not just from
information of what consumers like, but from sculpting what they like into

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

forms that they use on an everyday basis and connect to. For example,
an ad for a make-up company like Cover Girl can just as well make an ad
saying that they are selling lipstick and people like make-up so they should
buy it, but instead they feature a woman applying the product and show
it making them feel beautiful and young. What can be seen from this
example is that the simple information was that people like make-up, but
taking it a step further and showing that they like that product because it
makes them feel beautiful takes them back to the way they use that
information.
To conclude, advertisements have adopted to situations of both
economic and social variety, especially in evolving sense over time. The
fundamentals like cues, relatedness, and mindset all come from the
change in phrase or writing in the ad. Writing is the key element to
manipulate for an intended audience, because it is the driving force that
reveals the meaning of the ad and its relevance to the targeted group.
Such ideology has given a sense of both research and perspective
involving the course of a major in Business, making it a field of constant
change and interpretation of a new audience constantly. However, this
research shows something that is very distinct about money: in order to
gain it, it must be connected to something that is intrinsically inside of an
individual and be relatable. The thing to remember about advertisements
is that they have a single goal to gain profit for their industry or attention

THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT

10

from their viewers, a fact that remains constant although advertisements

themselves change.

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THEORY OF ADVERTISEMENT
References
Catchthebuzzzzzz. (2011, January 15). #1 McDonalds BF&GF - India
ad[HD][Video File]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmNrvlQ73pU&feature=youtu.be

Edelstein, Sally. (2013, March 11). Consumers, Middle Class. Retrieved from
http://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2013/03/11/the-big-gulp/

Mcdonalscorp,. (2012, August 13). McDonald's "Working Together" - To Make

Your Day Better | Commercial | McDonald's [Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZCbvpJ4O6c

Mythirdtry,. (2011, January 25). Japanese McDonalds SpongeBob

Commercial HD [Video File]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11quU3nqkVE&feature=youtu.be

Quesenberry, K.A., & Coolsen, M. K. (2014). What Makes a Super Bowl Ad

Super? Five-Act Dramatic Form Affects Consumer Super Bowl Advertising
Ratings. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice,22(4), 437-454. doi:
10.2753/MTP1069_6679220406

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Zhao, G., Muehling, D. D., & Kareklas, I. (2014). Remembering the Good
Old Days: The Moderating Role of Consumer Affective State on the
Effectiveness of Nostalgic Advertising. Journal Of Advertising, 43(3), 244255. doi:10.1080/00913367.2013.853633